Ode to public transit
By Eliot Singer
Op-ed contributor
Suzanne Sorkin and I have fallen in love with the Number 11 BATA Bus.
As retirees, we decided to live in our small condo at The Homestead much of the time between April and November. Like most seasonal (and year-round) residents, we hate the hassle of trying to drive anywhere during the tourist season. Thanks to the Number 11, we don’t have to.
We car-shop about once a month to put in a supply of staples and food for the freezer. For fresh produce, bakery, cold cuts, cheese, even fish, we take a couple of cooler bags and hop on the Number 11 to Traverse City. Here’s our summer routine: 8:30 bus to the Sara Hardy Wednesday farmer’s market. Maybe catch a 25-cent matinee at the State Theater and/or lunch-out. Near time for the return on 11:30 or 1:30, stop for milk, cheese, deli, and sandwiches for dinner (my favorite, a Godfather from Folgarelli’s).
There are, of course, numerous variations, especially with the new downtown-TC Bay loop bus: a trip to the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, shops-galore, Little Fleet, Dennos Museum, first-run matinees at the State and Bijou. I even took the bus to the Met Opera Live in HD at The State last fall.
On a less fun note, the bus can get you to doctors’ appointments at Munson.
The Number 11 also goes to downtown Glen Arbor, where there is the smaller Tuesday farmer’s market and places to shop and eat, if it weren’t so impossible to park or dodge congestion. And, for seniors, the cost is only $1.50 one-way, including transfer.
Everyone I talk to gripes about overcrowding and the stress of venturing into Glen Arbor, let alone Traverse City. When I mention the bus, the response is invariably: what bus? or we don’t know the schedule, or we don’t know where it stops. BATA, as well as Glen Arbor-area institutions, could do a much better job of promotion. But the real problem is the same old negative attitude toward public transit: people who own cars use them as their default, no matter how much they complain about traffic, parking, and the price of gas.
BATA is extremely accommodating, and I’m sure, will be willing to modify schedule and service if there is sufficient ridership. I would like to see a stop at the Leelanau School, both for school-folk and for the many lakeside condos at The Homestead. I would like to see collaboration with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for access to hiking and cycling, beyond the current bike-and-ride, which is too infrequent. I would like to see an evening bus, so we could have an early dinner or drink. In addition to current flag stops along Glen Lake and call-ahead route-deviations of up to 3/4 mile, there needs to be collaboration to facilitate park-and-ride: only a handful of spaces would be needed, and I envision placing a sign on the windshield, “I heart BATA.”
But none of this can happen unless seasonal and permanent residents start to regularly use the Number 11. What’s not to love?
This year, we might even risk going into TC during Cherry Festival! We wouldn’t be caught dead doing that by car.
For a schedule of BATA’s 11 bus, visit BATA’s webpage.
